RE: [rp-ml] plastic welding FDM parts

Hey Bob,

I got plenty of responses but most involved using some type of chemical to create a bond. I have done actual plastic welding sometime ago where you use a heat gun with plastic filaments and it worked really well. I thought this might be nice to fix FDM parts that have some void that wasn't supposed to be there or to weld components together. I contacted Stratasys and their Red Eye division does this quite often. The tools they use are the Leister Hot-Jet S with weld kit 107.148. I priced them out and the cost will be around $900USD.

Here are some responses I received:
Are you asking about ultrasonic or solvent welding? Here's a link to a site talking about using MEK for solvent welding:
http://www.kabu-nagasaka.co.jp/en/processing/fdm_molding.php

As for ultrasonic welding it would depend on the material. As I remember it more flexible materials such as polyethylene or polypropylene don't work well
with that, but more rigid thermoplastics do since the ultrasonic vibration has some resistance to make it work.ABS is among the best plastics to weld
ultrasonically.

Ted Quick

Hello Ted,

I haven't done plastic welding using heat for FDM parts but I have done a lot of solvent bonding and find it works very well. I use Weld-on #3 Cement from McMaster, part number 7528A13. It's pretty nasty stuff but works well. The other solvent I've used is PVC pipe cleaner (joint prep)....easy to get and works but very harsh on FDM so more caution is needed.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,
Andres

Ted Anderson
Rapid Prototyping Lab
Raytheon
Jacobs MSFC ESTS Contract

From: Bob Olsen [mailto:Bob@protogenic.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 8:59 AM
To: Anderson, Theodore E. (MSFC-EM40)[Raytheon - Jacobs]; rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: RE: [rp-ml] plastic welding FDM parts

Ted, any response on this, we'd be interested in knowing as well, thanks! Regards, Bob - Protogenic

________________________________
From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi] On Behalf Of Anderson, Theodore E. (MSFC-EM40)[Raytheon - Jacobs]
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 7:58 AM
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: [rp-ml] plastic welding FDM parts
Does anyone have experience plastic welding FDM parts? What plastic welder do you use? And does it work well? It's been about 14 years since I've done any plastic welding, so if you wouldn't mind sending a procedure on how you prep the FDM part, that would also be appreciated.

Ted Anderson
Rapid Prototyping Lab
Raytheon
Jacobs MSFC ESTS Contract
Received on Thu Nov 19 19:17:14 2009